Jimmy Fratianno

Aladena James Fratianno (born Aladena Fratianno; November 14, 1913 – June 29, 1993), also known as "Jimmy the Weasel", was an Italian-born American mobster who was acting boss of the Los Angeles crime family.

Fratianno was born in Naples, Italy, in 1913, later immigrating with his family to the United States, settling near Cleveland, Ohio.

He was first arrested at the age of 19, on suspicion of rape, but was not charged.

Two years later, he was acquitted of robbery charges, but in 1937, was convicted of robbery and spent more than seven years in an Ohio state prison.

Fratianno earned his nickname "Weasel" as a boy when running from the police in the Little Italy section of Cleveland.

A chase witness shouted "Look at that weasel run!"

and the police quickly attached the nickname to his criminal record, falsely believing it was his alias.

He was paroled in 1945, and moved to Los Angeles, California, where he associated with underworld figure Mickey Cohen.

In 1951, he was arrested but later released in connection with the gangland-style killing of two mobsters believed to have plotted to kill Cohen.

In 1954, Fratianno was convicted of attempted extortion; he served 6 years and 3 months, mostly at San Quentin State Prison.

Fratianno married Jean, who he had met in an airport in 1966, in 1975.

Fratianno was known to have global connections.

One such connection was with Australian organised crime figures.

In 1968, he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from phony pay agreements with drivers at a trucking company he owned, and in 1971 he entered another guilty plea, this time for extortion.

In 1975, the boss of the Los Angeles family, Dominic Brooklier, was sent to prison, and Louis Tom Dragna was made acting boss.

He accepted the position on the condition that he run the family together with Fratianno.

Fratianno accepted the proposal with the understanding that he would carry the majority of the responsibility.

Soon after, Fratianno was approached by Dragna in regards to having Frank Bompensiero murdered.

Bompensiero was one of the few made men that Fratianno trusted, as they were old friends, and he was infuriated that the Los Angeles family would give him such a 'contract'.

At this point Fratianno felt that he was tricked into becoming co acting boss with Louie Dragna, a leadership position which required him to be transferred from the Chicago Outfit back to the Los Angeles family.

Because of his close relationship with Frank Bompensiero, Dominic Brooklier assumed that Fratianno could easily lay a trap, and murder Bompensiero.

Fratianno stalled the murder contract for months, until the contract was given to other L.A. mob associates.

In 1976, Australian criminal Murray Riley met with Fratianno in San Francisco, allegedly, to organize drug shipments.

The same year, Sydney businessman Bela Csidei also met with Fratianno in San Francisco.

The FBI took photographs of this meeting.

Fratianno also associated with Australian/Hungarian transport magnate and managing director of Thomas Nationwide Transport, Peter Abeles.

Through Fratianno's connections with Teamsters and Longshoremen's unions, particularly with Rudy Tham, a San Francisco Teamsters leader, Abeles was able to use his company to smuggle drugs in and out of the U.S., as well as reduce industrial tensions on the waterfront.

Dominic Brooklier was released from prison in October 1976, after serving 16 months.

On April 11, 1976, Fratianno was photographed backstage at the Westchester Premier Theater along with Frank Sinatra and several mobsters, including Carlo Gambino, Paul Castellano and Gregory DePalma, following a performance by Sinatra.

After his arrest in 1977, Fratianno became an informant and entered the Witness Protection Program in 1980.

He admitted to having killed five people.

Later in life, he became a writer.

After a transition period he called Fratianno to a meeting some time before February 11, 1977, and announced to Jimmy and other L.A. mob members that he (Brooklier) was ready to resume his position as L.A. Mob Boss.

Jimmy Fratianno was once again an L.A. mob soldier.

Along with members and associates of the Gambino, Colombo and Genovese crime families of New York, Fratianno was involved in the skimming of revenue from the Westchester Premier Theater in Tarrytown, New York.

The fraud scheme ultimately forced the theater into bankruptcy.

Some time between February 11 and May 16, 1977, Brooklier summoned Fratianno to a sit down and accused him of running a separate 'crew' in the Los Angeles territory and saying, "Jimmy, you've got a bad mouth, like [Bompensiero]..."

In 1977 Brooklier started claiming that Fratianno was never Acting Boss and that Fratianno was misrepresenting himself.

Jimmy Fratianno began to suspect that Brooklier was trying to poison his mob reputation, and lay the groundwork to have him killed.

Then at the wake for Tony Delsanter, Fratianno learned that Cleveland crime family boss James Licavoli had a mole in the FBI, a female clerk, that was feeding the family documents.